It's November!

I can't believe it's November already! I feel very antsy for Christmas this year, since that's when Roman will be arriving! I'm almost 34 weeks pregnant right now, and definitely starting to feel very uncomfortable! I feel like I need my torso to be about a foot longer! Lol. But I still love being pregnant, and feeling baby wiggles inside me.

I finally started doing some school things with Marissa. She absolutely loves it, and begs every day to start school NOW! We've mostly been working on some writing. Every day she writes her full name, the day of the week, the month/date/year, and then practices a number and upper case/lower case letter. Today we did 12 and L's. She's getting so confident with her writing! We always try to think of works that start with the letter of the day, and I make a list of what we come up with. For "extra fun" she asks to write those words too! I found an awesome website that I'll be pulling more stuff from soon. I think I like homeschooling preschool - no pressure at all! I'm a little nervous about next year though. We'll definitely have to do something more structured.

Marissa is finally going to bed better. For a while, she was flipping out every night, for no apparent reason. So now she sleeps with her light on, door open, loud Bible music on, and her covers completely over her face. Lol. I have no idea, but somehow it helps! She is definitely strong-willed and what she wants, SHE WANTS, and a certain way too!

Arianna is really starting to talk a lot! It's about time! For a while there, I was starting to get worried, but she is really learning more every day now. She says all done, all gone, bye, hi, up, hot, hat, ball, cup, please, thank you (dee-dee), mama, dada, 'issa (Marissa - so cute!), apple, eat, and I'm sure a bunch more that I can't even think of right now. She's also doing better at repeating what we ask her to say, which is so much fun. She is totally in love with her big sister, and follows her around copying everything Marissa does. It's super cute, but can get annoying sometimes! They both like to spend hours at the kitchen table, playing with toys - most recently the Pocohontas and Powhatan figures we got for Marissa at Goodwill. Arianna also loves to play with her babies, push them in the stroller, and hug and kiss them. It's adorable. She also loves to push the stroller around like a maniac - as fast as she can - around and around and around the kitchen island! She's so crazy and wild, and both girls love to wrestle/tackle Daddy lately. Marissa is a bit hesitant to throw herself in there, but Arianna just goes for it, and I'm shocked every time that she's not hurt by everything she does!

I'm in the middle of a nice break from work, so I've got some big plans! I need to update some of the music on my iPod (it's been forever, and I've been waiting for Dan to set up the computer downstairs again - that's where all my songs are). I also am going to sew some burp cloths and blankets for Roman. I got some super cute fabrics, and I can't wait to get going on them. We've been slowly accumulating some clothes for our baby boy, much of it thanks to gifts from my wonderful family. I love washing them and putting them all together in a dresser, just waiting for a tiny little body to go in them! I just filled out the paperwork for the birth center, and in 2 weeks I have to go in and pre-register - I can't believe it's that close already! We're not going on any more trips now, obviously, so Thanksgiving we'll just be here. I think Dan's parents were thinking about coming out for that. Then my parents and Rach are coming out for Christmas, and that way Rach will be here a little early (after her finals) just in case Roman comes early - she can watch the girls while we're in the hospital. I'm also going to a Christmas event through my work, and Rach is going to watch the girls then too. It's at a dinner theater, and I've been dying to go there! It's Dec. 16th, so hopefully Roman at least waits past then! I'm actually due the 20th, so it's cutting it a little close, but I really wanna go!

Arianna is still nursing in the morning and after naptime. It's actually quite painful for some reason, in addition to causing Roman to make me VERY uncomfortable! I have to push him down and out of the way, or I feel like he's going to come crawling out my throat! But I am really trying to continue nursing Arianna until Roman comes - hopefully that will help with the misery I've had with beginning nursing with the girls. I'm so proud to have nursed Arianna to 20 months now. I made it to 16 with Marissa, but had to stop because of a miscarriage/antibiotic. I have a feeling Arianna would be ok if we stopped now, just like Marissa was back then. But Arianna still asks for it, and really seems to enjoy it still, so I'm holding on as long as possible! Once Roman is born, I'd be ok with Arianna nursing for a little while longer, especially since she might be a little freaked out by not being "the baby" anymore. But I'd also be ok with her stopping pretty quickly. She's acting so big lately, even though she's still tiny

We threw out our couch and recliner last month! We got our carpets cleaned professionally, and were planning on getting rid of the recliner anyways, since it leaves a gross black residue underneath. And then when we picked up the stupid couch to move it, a loose spring caught the carpet and ripped a 3-4 inch hole! I was so ticked! So it joined the recliner on the curb, where some poor person from craigslist took them! Haha! So for a few days we had nothing in the living room, then Dan moved the old futon up from the basement, and that's what we have right now. We are on the hunt for a couch, but don't have a very large budget, and I'm determined to find "the perfect one". I really want a nice modern dark gray one, and that's not really a common color. There are a few possibilities that we found, but we'll have to save up a bit more before they become a reality. I'm just happy to have that old piece of junk couch finally GONE! I hated that thing from the moment we moved into this house. It was great in my college apartment, and fine in our first apartment together, but as soon as we moved in here, I knew it HAD to go!

Well, I hear Arianna coughing, so I'm betting she's going to wake up any second now. I typed as fast as I could, so hopefully I caught all the typos already! I really enjoy "my" naptime, but it's usually shorter than I expect. Arianna is NOT a great napper, and sometimes thinks 45 minutes is a good nap! Ridiculous! But I bring her into bed with me and she usually sleeps a little more, which is great since I've been needing the extra rest lately!

Bullets

• I'm 25 weeks, 2 days pregnant and it's a BOY! I'm feeling pretty good, besides the exhaustion and sore muscles. This morning I had to drink that nasty orange drink and get bloodwork done for the gestational diabetes test. They always make me nervous, since I love my junk food so much!
• Last night Marissa and I went on a "date" to look for fall dress shoes for her. Strike-out at both Payless and Target, but we had fun, and I found some awesome Target clearance deals. A bunch of summer things for M for $1 each! And some cute flip-flops for next summer for her too. I also got a few summer boy clothes for $1, $2, and $3. I'm estimating him to be in 6-9 for summer/fall, so hopefully I'm right! I highly doubt he'll be much different in size from his two older sisters!
• I'd like to take a minute and talk about my oldest. She's growing into a fascinating big girl and I don't want to forget anything! She's currently obsessed with the Wonder Pets. We watch it on Netflix (mainly when I'm getting ready in the mornings) and she turns EVERY situation in life into a "Wonder Pets" situation. She sings the song OVER and OVER at the top of her lungs, her voice cracking because she's singing so hard. She changes the words to fit our situation: "Save the baby princess (toy in car)" "We have to hurry, to get to Mommy's doctor appointment", etc. It's hilarious, but we're starting to get a little sick of the Wonder Pets! She still does not stop talking. She has a question or observation about everything. She is very helpful with Arianna, loves to get her cup for her, hold her hand, and help her play with toys. They play together REALLY well at times, and other times they shriek at each other every time one of them tries to do something. Arianna copies EVERYTHING Marissa does, good or bad. My favorite is when we send Marissa to time-out in the corner. Arianna will NOT stay away from her! And Marissa usually crosses her arms when she's mad, and Arianna crosses her arms too, and it makes us all laugh, and puts Marissa out of her bad mood. Marissa is so talkative at home, and in the car. But when we go to my doctor's appointments, she is very hesitant to talk to the nurses and other people there. But once she decides she's going to talk, she talks about the most random things! She is "so exciting" (excited) about her new baby brother, and is already asking to carry him around Meijer! She has a hard time understanding how Arianna is her little sister, but will be Roman's big sister. She's still taking a "rest time" every day, but not sleeping as often. Today she is singing, probably Wonder Pets! Her imagination is through the roof, as evidenced by her changing the Wonder Pets song. Especially in the car, we have a few little toys, and they always have a Wonder Pets situation for her to resolve. She loves to play with the castle/house and Little People, when Arianna will let her (she carries them around all day!). We went to a church outdoor movie night this past weekend, and the movie was Up. She is terrified of the dogs that talk (Arianna LOVES them), so we ended up leaving early. We drove an hour and back TWICE this past weekend to buy/pick up our new blue Honda Odyssey! It's wonderful, and Marissa loves it too. She keeps asking about which car Daddy is driving, and if we're keeping the van. We haven't started any "school" stuff yet, but I hope to sometime in the next few weeks. She's been asking about certain things and if we can learn them in "school" so I think she's really going to enjoy it!
• And now for Arianna. I really just don't understand her yet! She still only says "up" and "off" regularly, but CAN say "mama" "dada" "help" "tree" and one more that I can't think of right now. She'd much rather just point or "eh" to get her point across. She completely understands EVERYTHING we say though. She puts toys away like a pro, follows directions (when it's convenient for her). And LOVES to play with her big sister! They LOVE to run around like crazy people, holding hands, spinning, racing down the hallway, tickling each other. It's super cute, until one of them starts shrieking! She copies everything Marissa does, and is always watching to see what else she can get into. She has learned how to move stools/toys so she can climb on them to reach something. She can reach all our doorknobs, but so far doesn't know how to turn them. She can reach things on just about every surface in the downstairs, so we keep piling things up on top of the piano! She's awesome at napping and going to bed. The nightmare of her sleep issues was only about a year long. Lol. She sleeps with a pink bear head/blanket thing, and just lays down and babbles to herself until she falls asleep. It's wonderful! Her naps are still only about 45 minutes long, though lately she's been doing better and sleeping for 1.5 hours. She goes to bed at 8, and usually wakes up at 7:15 as Dan is leaving for work. She's still nursing, but only in the morning, and after nap. She LOVES it though, and has a hysterical meltdown if I try to refuse her. I love the time we get to cuddle while she nurses, and I'm still hoping to continue nursing until the new baby comes. It's starting to get very difficult though, since there's no place for her on my lap anymore, and she loves to squish my belly! She has the biggest grin, and is so funny and so much fun. But she is SO difficult, and so very different from Marissa. She is TOUGH: she did a total body flop onto Marissa's pillow the other night and thought it was so fun she'd do it again. But the second time she did a total forehead plant into the WALL, and we all flipped out! But she didn't even cry, just looked at us like "what?"! She has NO fear, which is terrifying! She loves dogs and LOVES babies, and points them both out all the time. I think she's going to LOVE having a baby brother, but she obviously doesn't have a clue that he's coming. I'm terrified of moving her into a big girl bed, so we are going to postpone that as long as possible! She is a mischievous little thing - and I do mean LITTLE. At her 18-month check up, she weighed 19lbs 14oz! She's still about 33 inches tall (their measurements are always wacky), but so itty bitty! But she eats like a horse! She almost always eats more than Marissa at meals, and sometimes eats more than I do! I don't know where she puts it though!
• And baby Roman. Roman Daniel (after Daddy). He is a jumper and roller! Marissa loves to feel him moving through my belly. I love the feeling too. It's so reassuring, even though sometimes the kicks are almost jarring! I love being pregnant, and I love looking forward to labor and delivery. I'm planning on having him in the tub too, just like Arianna. I'm also expecting him to come late, like Arianna! He's due December 20th, and Dan really wants a Christmas baby (like he is), but I'm willing to go as late as Jan. 4 (I think that's 2 weeks late). After that, I wouldn't be able to have him in the birthing center. But I really hope we don't go that late! My sister is coming straight here for her Christmas break, so she'll be here when I go into labor (hopefully) so we won't have to take the girls anywhere. And my parents are coming the week between Christmas and New Year's, so hopefully he's here by then! I'm not sure when Dan's parents are coming, but hopefully around then too! We are slowly starting to buy a few boy things here and there. Marissa picked out an elephant head/blanket thing, and I just ordered a bunch of fabrics to sew into blankets and burp cloths. We have a few newborn clothing items, and now a few bigger things. But it's so weird to start from scratch with clothes! When Marissa was born, I had a wonderful shower, and got TONS of clothes from the family (of triplets) that I was working for. And obviously Arianna had a ton of clothes too. It's kinda fun though. Except for the fact that I don't love all the sports-themed boy clothes. I do like the dinosaur, monkey, dog stuff though.
• Well, I never expected to have this much time to write! I thought for sure Arianna would be awake by now. Tonight is the first actual night of Cubbies, and Marissa is excited! I've got pizza dough in the bread maker for homemade pizza tonight - yum! I'm hosting Bunco this coming Tuesday, so I'm doing a lot of "cleaning" in my head in preparation. I'm gonna make Oreo "mud" since I've been craving it, and I'm not sure what else...probably the same stuff I made last time, since I don't really have a lot of variety of stuff I like to make.
• Oh, I finally found some maternity clothes! I've really been having a hard time with the sizes of most maternity clothes. They certainly make XL and plus-sized clothes, but for some reason XS are ridiculously hard to find. Motherhood is supposedly getting XS in their fall line, but Motherhood is always so pricey! But Target is always my favorite place. I got JEANS there, since they actually have sizes, instead of S, M, L. I thought I was going to have to go to Gap and shell out $70 for maternity jeans, but Target came through, like it always does! I also found a super cute sweater and Kohl's, and actually didn't need an XS there. Although why they have to be so expensive is beyond me. I guess they get away with it, since there's NOTHING else to pick from in maternity! I also got a few huge bags of maternity clothes from a friend at church who is about my size. I still was only able to use a handful of things, but the few capris that were in there were really what I needed. For some reason, this time I'm not able to really wear as many of my usual bottoms. With Marissa and Arianna, I kept wearing the same jeans, capris, etc. as I always wore anyways. But I guess my muscles have had it! I just can't button them this time! I love it though
• I'm starting to get excited for a few things this fall. The first weekend of October is our 5th reunion at Cedarville! My good friend Nicole is coming up and staying at our house for the weekend with her two kids (girl 5 months older than Arianna, and a baby - 5 months I think?). Then we're going to the reunion dinner on Saturday. Dan will be camping (guy trip they've been planning) but we'll have fun walking around campus and reminiscing! Then my "little" brother is getting married Oct. 16th! I still can't believe it! Marissa is their flower girl (she's an old pro by now!) and I'm a bridesmaid. Yes, I'll be huge - 31 weeks I think?! Oy. But the dresses are pretty, as long as I don't stick out like a huge sore thumb. Lol. It's a 9 hour drive, so it will be a long weekend, but at least we will be able to drive it in our nice new van!

Well, I think I'm done! Arianna is almost at 2 hours for her nap today! Yay!

Ketchup

I wrote this yesterday, and just got around to posting it today:

• I'm pregnant! Due December 20th, and we're so excited! We waited to tell Marissa until I was almost 12 weeks, and she actually guessed at the ultrasound appointment before we could even tell her! (Oh, did I mention I'm going to be in my brother's wedding in October? At 30 weeks pregnant? Talk about a whale...)

• We just got back from a business trip with Dan for his work. We drove to Chicago Monday, spent Tuesday and Wednesday there, and drove back today. Tuesday and Wednesday Dan had training, so the girls and I (along with the wife and 3 year old of another guy from Dan's work) spent the days together.

• Monday night, the first night in the hotel, Arianna went to sleep quickly, then woke up 2 hours later and screamed her guts out for hours and hours and hours. Nothing we did could calm her down (except let her sleep on our shoulder while we stood up - not exactly ideal). Finally, after some tylenol and a few hours wandering the hotel lobby with Dan, she ended up asleep in our bed, on top of the covers in between us. That made us extremely worried about the other two nights, but she was back to her usual "only wake once or twice, go back to sleep easily" routine for the rest of the time. Otherwise we would have driven right back!

• Tuesday, Lisa, Kaiya (3), me, and our girls went out for breakfast, came back to the hotel and swam at the pool for a while, then went out for lunch, then came back for nap. It was a nasty rainy day, so we didn't do much else. That night we all went out for Giordano's stuffed deep dish pizza.

• Wednesday, all us girls got up, had breakfast at 9, and then headed out to the Lincoln Park Zoo. We took a bus from the hotel to the airport, then a train from there, then another train to Armitage Road, which we had to walk to the end of to get to the zoo. Well, the trains took about an hour total, the whole time Arianna was trying to climb out of the carrier (Baby Hawk Mei Tei - awesome, wouldn't have survived without it!) by pulling both her arms out the top and pulling on both of my earrings, pulling my hair out of my ponytail, and screaming. I was carrying our travel-system-stroller, had a backpack on, had Arianna in the front carrier, and was strongly holding Marissa's hand (I don't do well in cities) We had to go up 3+ escalators (the elevator was broken!), and the first time we got on one, Marissa kinda missed the stairs, so I pulled her back down and we tried again, then again! Then by that point she was terrified of them. So a nice guy ended up carrying the stroller up 3 escalators for us, while I picked up Marissa and put her on the stairs properly, all while still holding Arianna in the carrier. Then once we got on Armitage, we walked the wrong way, so we had to turn around and walk to the opposite end (we looked it up later, the road was 3 miles long I think!). I put Arianna in the stroller for the walk on Armitage, but Marissa had a hard time making it that far, and ended up riding in the other girl's stroller for a while, then I tried to carry her, then I tried to put A and M in our stroller together (it worked when they were smaller!), then I tried to carry Arianna and let Marissa ride in the stroller, but Arianna wanted to get down and that would have NEVER worked. Needless to say, it was a loooooong walk! When we finally made it to the zoo, it was lunchtime already! So we ate lunch, then took one loop around the zoo and saw zebras, alpaca, moose, and a few others. We saw some cows and goats in the farm section, and Marissa freaked out when the cows started walking. She was screaming and crying and running away, even when I told her they were stuck in a fence. Then we tried to go into the lion house. Marissa completely flipped out, terrified again. I explained over and over that there were fences and gates and windows, and the people who made the zoo make it all safe so we can't get in and the animals can't get out. But she ran away crying when I tried to show her. So we didn't see the lions! Then we went in search of the carousel for the girls to ride on. When we finally found it, we realized it was cash only (duh) and neither of us had any cash! So both big girls were completely crushed. We ended up going to get ice cream for a treat, and then we were ready to leave! So we walked almost another 3 miles back to the train station, rode the first train for a while, then got on the second train, and there were so many people there was no room for us to sit! So I was standing, trying to hold onto the bar, and the stroller, and Marissa so we wouldn't all go flying every time the train moved. We almost wiped out a few times, but recovered. Finally a nice lady offered us her seat, but we really needed 2 seats for all of us, so Marissa just ended up sitting. Then FINALLY enough people got off that there was enough room for us to sit together. And unfortunately, I'm not even really showing pregnant, plus I was wearing Arianna on my front, so nobody else offered their seat to us, even though the train was full of young healthy adults. That was probably the longest day of my life, and I was wearing flip flops! I am SO SORE today - the tops of my feet from the flip flop straps (at least they were nice flip flops and didn't wear down to nothing), my calves from pushing a heavy stroller over 6+ miles of bumpy sidewalk/road, my forearms from pushing the stroller one-handed while I held Marissa's hand, but most of all my neck/shoulders/back are sore just to touch them from the straps of carrying Arianna in the carrier. It was quite an adventure, and when we got back, Lisa said I get to pick where we go for dinner no matter what! We ended up eating at Ihop because no one else could decide. Lol.

• Today we drove back, and the girls did pretty well in the car, but we are SOOOOO exhausted, and Dan says he will NEVER let us come on a trip with him again! And I agree! He really wanted to go downtown and enjoy some of the city, and get more Chicago pizza. But it was just so difficult, and the night he wanted to go downtown was the day we had our horrific adventure, so we couldn't possibly do all that again. I did enjoy spending time with the other family we went with though.
  

• I'M GLAD TO BE HOME! It just seems like we're so busy around here all the time!

Vacation nightmare

Last Friday we drove to WV to spend most of the week with Dan's parents. The plan was to stay at their house until Friday, when we'd drive to our hotel in PA, go to my brother Jeff's college graduation on Saturday, and drive back home late Saturday.

Our vacation started out great. We spent a wonderful weekend with Dan's parents, and ate Mother's Day lunch out at a fancy restaurant - and both girls were wonderfully behaved and ate well. It was surprising and refreshing to have an enjoyable meal out at a restaurant! Dan's mom took Monday off from work, and we went to eat lunch at Dan's absolute favorite Mexican restaurant, and shopped at Home Goods (!). While it was a bit frustrating to chase Arianna everywhere and keep her from getting into all their stuff, it was a fun few days!

Then Tuesday morning, I got a phone call from my mom, telling me my Grandpa, Papa, had died late the night before. It was not a surprise at all - we'd been saying "This could be his last..." for 10 years. But it was still sad. He was 80 and had been married to my Grandma for 56 years I think. She dedicated 50+ years to taking care of him and all his medical issues over the years. Everyone knew it was best for him to finally go and be healed in Heaven, but that doesn't change the fact that he will be missed.

So anyway, we changed our plans and decided to drive up to NY Wednesday, spend time with extended family who were coming into town, go to the funeral Friday, then finish with the rest of the original plans. We left to drive there right after lunch, so the girls could nap in the car. They did, but Arianna woke up after a short nap and screamed for the last 1.5 hours of the drive, unless one of us was singing "Twinkle, Twinkle" - which you can only do for so long until you want to pull your hair out.

We got to NY around dinner time, and for the next few days spent time with every member of our family. Papa's 3 kids and their spouses, Brian's 2 kids (who I hadn't seen in years!), my Mom's 3 kids, and the 2 great-grandkids. We hadn't been to NY since last August, and it was fun to catch up with everyone. However, it was a little chaotic with all the new people for the girls to get used to, no familiar toys, no gated-off play areas, etc. Friday we all got up super early to get to the church for the calling hours and funeral. We asked a friend of ours to watch Marissa and Arianna in the church nursery (and she brought her own 2 little girls). They had a great time (I assume!) and it was such a relief not to worry about them at all throughout the morning. SO MANY people came by to pay their respects. My Grandma has so many good, close friends in her neighborhood and church. It was so sweet to see them all. Lots of them were people who we used to know from the church (we went there when I was LITTLE) and the rest of them were people from our old neighborhood where my Grandma still lives. They were all shocked to see how grown up we were, and even though it was a sad time, it was neat to see so many people I hadn't seen in probably 15+ years.

When we first got to the church, we all walked in and saw pictures, flowers, and an urn with my Grandpa's ashes in it. That was hard. It didn't really seem real to me until then. I was in there already when my Grandma got there, and I will never forget the look on her face when she first walked in.

After the funeral, the church provided a luncheon for everyone, and that was extremely chaotic. We got the girls out of the nursery, so people could see them too, and so we could all eat lunch. But Arianna decided she wanted to scream her guts out for no reason, and refused to eat anything or go to anyone except me. So I basically never ate...it was frustrating.

Afterwards, we said lots of goodbyes, and my parents, and Rach and Jeff, and me, Dan and the girls left a little early to pack and start driving down to PA. Jeff had some event the night before graduation, and we wanted to drive down during naptime again. They slept well in the car, but there was a freak storm, accidents, power outages at traffic lights, and who knows what else. So between all that, and a detour to avoid stopped traffic, it took us an extra 2 hours! We had to stop for dinner before we even got there, and then we finally crashed at the hotel just in time for bed. The girls slept great at the hotel, and we got up early to get ready, eat breakfast, and check out of the hotel.

Then we went to Jeff's graduation from Messiah! It was a beautiful day for it, but it was HOT in the sun, and FREEZING when it was windy. Graduation itself was LONG, and it was difficult holding Arianna still on high bleachers for so long. Dan ended up letting her and Marissa run around the grass behind the bleachers for a while. When it finally ended, we all found Jeff, and his fiancée Jenna, and took some pictures. I wore the most uncomfortable heels EVER, and almost died walking around the grounds in them.

Afterwards, we all changed clothes and went to a park for a big picnic with all of Jeff and Jenna's friends and families. Arianna fell asleep in the car on the way there, so Dan stayed in the car with her for a while, and almost missed getting any food! There was a playground and Marissa had a blast there. We all ate a big lunch, and then finished off our horrific sunburns. OUCH. I have the strangest looking one because I was wearing huge sunglasses to avoid a sun-headache! Marissa only got a tiny bit on her nose, Arianna got a little worse on her cheeks and head (she had a tiny ponytail, which made it worse), Rach had a pretty bad one too. No one even thought about sunscreen til it was too late! I felt like a horrible mother!

After the picnic was over, we went to another area of the park that was an even bigger playground. Marissa ran around and was the only person who still had energy left - well, besides Arianna. Lol. Dan put Arianna on a little zip-line and she gripped that thing so tightly, he was able to let go and she flew down the line (only about 10 feet) multiple times - she loved it!

Then we decided to go to dinner with my parents and Rach before we left to drive back to Ohio. We went to a Friendly's, which was chaotic enough without us there! I was NOT feeling very well, but managed to eat a small dinner anyways. Arianna crammed her face with anything she could get her hands on, since she refused to eat lunch at the picnic. It was a ridiculous meal - my dad spilled an entire cup full of water all over the table and my mom, he squirted ketchup all over his new white shirt, I knocked over only a half cup of water, and Arianna of course always makes a huge mess! We all got ice cream after (of course), then said our goodbyes. We finally got on the road around 8:30pm.

**TMI alert**

The beginning of the drive was great! We were making good time, the girls played for a bit, then fell asleep. I even fell asleep around 9:30, I was so tired! Then Arianna started waking up around 10:30, and kinda just crying one cry every 10 minutes. Then around 1am, we stopped at a Sheetz for gas, and Dan got his favorite snack there (buffalo chicken sub). Just before we got there, I was starting to wake up and feel REALLY awful. When we pulled in, I went into the bathroom and knew it was about to get a lot worse! But nothing was happening, I just felt like I was gonna die. So we left and got a mile down the road, when I realized I finally needed to throw up. Dan pulled over and I made it into the grass on the side of the highway, as it was starting to rain. When I got back in the car, I knew I needed a bathroom next, so we got off the next exit, but of course there wasn't ANYTHING there, so we turned around to go back to Sheetz. While I was in the bathroom at Sheetz, Dan called my phone, only I didn't pick up. When I got back to the car, he told me Marissa was crying that she had to "poop so bad!" so I took her in to the bathroom. But when we got in there, and she saw that they were the toilets that flush automatically, she REFUSED to even sit down. I even got a paper towel, and put it over the sensor, and put a tp roll on top of it. But she started crying and just wouldn't. So we left, and already I felt TONS better. Almost normal. About 30 minutes later, as I had just started to doze off again, I heard the most horrid sound I have ever heard. I jumped out of my buckle, turned the back light on, and saw vomit spewing ALLLLL over Marissa's lap, shirt, pants, buckles, the baby she sleeps with, and a few other things below her car seat. I was helpless to stop it, and even though I tried to get a plastic bag in front of her, it was useless. We stopped at the next exit, and even though I'd rather not recount what happened next, I think it's important to get it down in history. With my still sensitive stomach, I attempted to clean her up. Between all the chunks, we realized it was just not going to happen. So we just bit through it, and unbuckled her, then stripped all her clothes off in the parking lot. Thankfully we had some clothes easily accessible in the trunk, so she got some pj's on and I took her into the bathroom to clean a little better. Dan attempted to clean her car seat, but you have no idea how bad it was. The baby she sleeps with - it's in the trash at that gas station. There was no hope for it! The entire way home, we still smelled vomit in the car, and I just kept waiting for Arianna to be next, or Dan to start too. But no one else did! Sunday I spent an hour taking the seat apart, then put as much as I could in the washer, and handwashed the rest. Then I spent another hour putting it back together. If we hadn't spent $170 on her car seat, that would have gone in the trash too! So between me getting sick, Marissa getting sick, and then the attempted clean-up at 2am, that added another 2 hours onto that drive. We didn't get home until 4:30 Sunday morning!

**end TMI**

We spent all Sunday doing NOTHING and trying to recover from our vacation-gone-bad. It started out great, slowly got worse, and ended with a bang! I don't think it's one we will forget soon, though we would certainly like to!


On an unrelated note, Monday Arianna had her 15-month check-up. She is 32 inches tall (which is the 95%!) and weighs 18 pounds, 10 ounces (which isn't even on the chart, it's so low!). She is certainly our skinny-mini, just like Marissa was at this age. The pediatrician wasn't concerned though, and I'm not really either. She also got a few shots, but she was fine the rest of the day. I was soooooooo ticked though. Her appointment was at 10:30. We got there at 10:25, and went back to the exam room at 10:30. We then waited until 11:00 for the doctor to come in (the nurse came in to weigh her, etc in between then), then after the doctor was there for 5 minutes, we had to wait another 15 minutes for the nurse to come back with the shots! I was soo frustrated, and Arianna was screaming the entire time we were waiting. Several times I opened the door so they could hear her screaming, because HELLO WE HAVE AN APPOINTMENT TIME! It didn't even seem like there were that many people there, because the halls were always empty and not all the rooms were full. I suppose since it was a Monday morning, that might have something to do with it. It just really made me mad that they couldn't freaking honor an appointment time, even though they called to confirm it a few days before!

Well, I guess that's all for now. We have a family from our church staying in our basement for a little while. They had some housing issues, we had the extra space, plus a full bathroom down there, and so there they are! I'm not really sure what we're doing about meals with them here - they were here while we were out of town, so now we have to figure stuff out. But I should probably start thinking about that. Arianna has been asleep since 1:45, and it's a miracle! Usually she only sleeps for 1.5 hours! Her sleep was perfect right before vacation (of course) and it's still pretty good now (sleeping through the night), but she's suddenly a stinker about GOING to sleep. She has to see one of us, or else she just lets out these one-syllable yells, like "hey, I'm in here and not happy about it!" It's frustrating, but if that's the only thing that got worse about her sleep from vacation, I suppose we can handle it! I've enjoyed the silence of this naptime, since Marissa is obviously sleeping today too. But I'm sure it will end shortly - Marissa always gets up right at 4!

Ahhhh...

So I really should be doing dishes right now, but the house is quiet (both girls are napping at the same time!) and I don't have any work hanging over my head (it's the slow week at work, so they handle it all in the office!). I also should be doing dishes, but I've been wanting to get on here for a long time, so that's what I'm doing!

* Arianna is napping great these days, but still not going to bed - at all. When she got sick a month ago, it all started to go downhill and hasn't really stopped! She is down to one nap a day though, so it's longer, and she goes to sleep like an angel. But she just will not calm down to go to sleep at night. No matter what time I try - 8pm, same time as Marissa; 9pm, after some quality time alone with Mommy and Daddy; 10pm, when we go to bed - it's ridiculous! Sometimes she falls asleep well around 10 or 10:30, but sometimes I have to nurse her to sleep still. It's so frustrating, especially because Work is going to start having lots of extra work for me to do, and I would love to have the time to do it (and earn extra money for the COUCH FUND!), but if Arianna won't sleep, it really limits the time I have to work. On the nights she won't go to sleep (most nights), she is a complete and total monster for Dan - she ONLY wants me! She screams her head off hysterically, it's almost comical. She loves Daddy any other time of day, but after 8pm - no way! Hopefully she will continue to slowly fix herself, since we're sticking to a routine.
* She's still nursing - A LOT. I'm glad she's still nursing, and I don't mind it. But she figured out how to ask, and it's starting to get old! She asks A LOT, and isn't quite at a distractable age yet. But I'm glad to still be doing it - it makes me feel better about the tiny amounts of real food she's eating! She is also pretty upset most Sundays in the nursery at church, so I usually nurse her halfway through the morning still. Sometimes I can tell she's asking because she's bored (mainly when Marissa is asleep or busy playing by herself), other times I just wonder WHY? I'm not planning on weaning any time soon, I just kind of thought by 13 months we could go more than 3 hours between! Well, she can, especially if we're out and about, but still...At least she's been sleeping almost all the way through the night lately. Finally. Again (remember 0-5 months old? She slept 10+ hours straight from 1 week old on...those were the days!).
* Marissa isn't napping every day now. Not surprising, since she'll be 4 at the end of this month. How is my baby 4 already?! It seems like just yesterday she was toddling around and refusing to walk on the grass (like Arianna is now). Dan and I were talking yesterday about what it must have been like for Marissa as a 1 year old. We must have been playing around on the floor like fools all the time. Now, Marissa and Arianna play around on the floor together, and we watch and laugh! They have such a special bond, it's beautiful to see. Marissa loves to share her Cheerio snack with Arianna - she passes her one at a time across the back seat, and I love to see their hands meet in the middle for the exchange. They can just barely reach each other from their car seats! Marissa also always tries to fix "the problem" if Arianna is upset or crying. She acts silly, gets toys for her, shares Cheerios, gets Arianna's cup...it's precious!
* My parents are hopefully coming out to celebrate Marissa's birthday at the end of the month. We bought her presents off Amazon with Swagbucks gift cards - so they were free! I'm looking forward to seeing her reaction to the things we picked out!
* We just found out today that we get to buy at least one new car seat, possibly two. A while back, my sister was in a minor accident while driving Marissa in our car, and if car seats have been in an accident, you're supposed to replace them. I had totally forgotten about that fact til the other day, so Dan talked to the insurance company about it today. It's kinda fun to pick out new car seats, especially since if we end up getting two (I'm not sure how it all works) one will be a new infant carrier. Hopefully we can find one that's easier to carry (and hopefully we'll be able to use it within the next year or so ). The other one (the one for sure we'll be getting) will be a convertible one, since Arianna's still rear-facing (still under 20 lbs - she was 17 at her checkup), and I have a feeling that any future children will follow in Marissa's and Arianna's "weight footsteps"!
* It's gorgeous weather here, and I love it so much! Dan always says "If you love this weather so much, we should move somewhere that has this weather all the time" but I disagree. I think the reason I enjoy it so much is that we DON'T have it all the time! I call it "happy" weather, because I just can't help but be in a good mood! Yesterday I put both girls in some cute springy clothes and we went outside for a while. I took the camera and took 133 pictures in under an hour! The sun was pretty bright, so I couldn't really see what I was taking in the LCD screen. Lol. But we went for a long walk (every time Arianna came to a driveway, she tried to run into the road!) and wore the girls out! It was kinda too bad though, since they both kinda had to skip nap! We had a family dentist appointment at 2 (naptime for both! Ooops!). Marissa's and Dan's teeth are fine and great, but mine are a mess. I have 2.5 wisdom teeth and they're all too far back to reach with a toothbrush (even the hygenist can't reach them), so they're all gradually getting cavities. The plan is to have them out ASAP, once we figure out how insurance will handle it. I'm not looking forward to it - I've had enough teeth pulled (thanks to years and years and $$$$ of orthodontic appointments, retainers, and head gear! (Thanks Mom and Dad!)) that I know how bad it might be! At least my teeth are straight now
* My sister was here last week, or maybe the week before (I lost track) and we had so much fun! We went shopping A LOT! She has 3 and I have 4 weddings to go to this summer/fall, so we both "needed" some dresses for the occasions. I also have massive buyer's remorse about everything, so I ended up exchanging half the stuff we bought! I'm so indecisive, it's ridiculous! She got the cutest green/brown polka dot dress. I got a gorgeous dark purple dress, that feels like I'm wearing pjs. I also got a cute black ruffled neckline dress at Target (I LOVE Target!) for only $20 because a whole bunch of them were on the wrong wrack - it was supposed to be $40! Score! I also might buy a few more off Amazon with our gift cards from Swagbucks (www.swagbucks.com/refer/rccalyn - sign up! It's so easy to get free stuff!).
* We tried on so many dresses, it was crazy! One of the dresses I DIDN'T buy, I keep thinking about, wondering if I could make it. Hopefully this week, since I don't have any work (WORK work, of course I still have housework!), I will get to try some of the crafty/sewing things I've been wanting to do. I also plan to FINALLY paint the polka dots in Marissa's bedroom that I told her I'd paint LAST YEAR!


I was going to add pictures, but the external hard drive we keep everything on (from Marissa's birth to the present) is acting up, so Dan needs to take a look at it. I'm trying not to be too nervous about losing things, since he didn't seem worried. But oh man...*calm down* So anyways, maybe new pictures next time, hopefully before a month has passed again

Well, I can't think of much else to catch up on. Arianna might sleep for another whole hour, so maybe I can get in some crafty time before she wakes up!

Arianna turned 1 on February 24th. Marissa took this picture of us when we got back from Arianna's well check-up:


Arianna weighed in at 17lbs 13oz (3oz heavier than Marissa at 1 year) and was 30.25 inches tall. She is in the 80th percentile for height, and 3rd-5th percentile for weight. I mentioned some concerns about her eating (or lack thereof) and her pooping (or lack thereof), but she wasn't concerned about her weight at all (like they were about Marissa at this age) - guess they can tell I make skinny-minis now!

I also expressed concern over her sleeping (or lack thereof), and how she wakes up at night still, quite often. Here is how that part of the conversation went:

Me: "She's been waking up several times in the night, sometimes every hour."
Dr: "What do you do then?"
Me: "I go in and put her back down with her blanket."
Dr: "What does she do if you let her cry?"
Me: "I don't."
Dr: "You should. It's best for her development."
Me: "I won't."

BLARGH! Why does everyone seem to think THEY have the answers, and that it's surprising that babies are ATTACHED to their parents? Why is it a BAD thing for a baby to be attached to their parents?More on this later...

Anways, the rest of her appointment went fine, and the doctor noticed that she had to write in that Arianna was walking at her 9 month appointment, since it wasn't even on the developmental check-list. I was a little worried when she asked about Arianna's language, since she only had one word ("uh-oh"), but just in the short week since then, Arianna's suddenly decided to babble on about anything and everything, and even say "Mamamamamamama" over and over again. So my worries are gone - although I'm still convinced she's going to talk SLOW because there's never a quiet moment around here.

Speaking of Marissa, we were driving to my work the other day, and I told her she didn't have to talk the whole time in the car (like she obviously was). She could listen to music, look out the window, or just think about things. Her response? "I can't hold my talk in!" That about sums up her life philosophy!

Dan's parents came to visit for the weekend, and we had a little celebration for Arianna's birthday. Nothing huge, but it was fun. The menu for her party consisted of food she ACTUALLY eats: homemade pizza, homemade mac & cheese, and corn. To fulfill the requirement of getting her hooked on chocolate, I made from scratch chocolate cupcakes and topped them with from scratch icing - MMmmmmmmm! There is just NOTHING better than homemade desserts! "Her" main present was a new car seat, although she can't ride in for another 6+ months when she's 20lbs (Marissa didn't hit 20lbs til 18 months). So for now Arianna is using Marissa's old one, still rear facing. And Marissa is in the new one, which will last either girl forever - it turns into a booster that goes up to 100lbs. So Arianna didn't have many presents to open, but both sets of her grandparents gave her a few gifts to open. However, I think she only ripped the wrapping paper once! She preferred to watch Marissa do it, and Marissa was fine with that! Arianna really enjoyed playing with the bows, and I managed to stick one on her head for most of the present time. She got some adorable dresses from my parents, and a Sesame Street play house and Little People princess blocks from Dan's parents. Marissa is thoroughly enjoying "teaching" Arianna how to play with them - and Arianna enjoys running off with all the characters!

Yesterday, I got up early to take both girls to get Arianna's picture taken at Olan Mills - we had to get there when they opened at 10 because we were a walk-in (YES, that is EARLY for us to be out and about!). So we went to the one closest to us, and as we were walking towards the studio, I saw a man in there and realized that we would need a miracle to get successful pictures. Arianna is TERRIFIED of men, even men she knows! Anyways, I figured we'd at least try it, since the pictures were going to be free (birthday package). So we went into the studio, and I tried to put her down. Suddenly, BOTH girls were crying and clinging to me desperately. I knew the guy (he took Marissa's 3 year pics), and knew he was nice, so I just told him it was nothing to do with him, but I knew it wasn't going to work. I tried valiantly, but it didn't happen. So we packed up to go to a different Olan Mills where I knew there was a girl working.

As we were getting our coats back on, and I was apologizing, he said something to the effect of "You know it's your own fault right? She's spoiled and wants you!" I agreed with him, and said that it was fine with me that she act like this at her age! I just couldn't believe he said that. Is it SO WRONG to have your child prefer you over a stranger? Is it so wrong to have your child be scared of strangers/strange men? Is it so wrong that I want her to feel loved and safe in my arms ALL THE TIME?! I feel this same way when people talk about letting their babies cry to sleep. Maybe some people can do it (don't get offended, I'm just venting), but to me it feels like I'm abandoning her! It feels like "Mommy knows I'm upset, and she's ignoring me. She doesn't care why I'm sad!" That will never be the answer for me, no matter how horribly my babies sleep (and I think I got a good example with Arianna!).

[stepping down from soapbox]

I am SO ready for a relaxing weekend. I will only have a little work to do (it's their slow period at the beginning of the month), and I'm looking forward to having some quiet time (ha, I guess I mean after Marissa goes to bed!). The girls are I are going to a birthday party for one of Marissa's friends on Saturday, and other than that, we have NOTHING to do! My sister is coming in a few weeks, so I'm going to make time to clear off all the clean laundry that's on the bed she wants to sleep in. It's so nice to have an entire bed free for laundry folding, but it usually just doesn't get folded!

Well, Marissa just woke up from nap (I think she actually slept today, instead of just stay in her bed quietly), so I'm going to cuddle my oldest!

SLEEP!

Today is Friday. Last Sunday was the start of a wonderful week of sleep for Arianna (and me)! Sunday night around 9pm, Arianna had been nursing and sleepy for a little while, and I just randomly decided to try to put her in her crib for bed. The only times I'd ever done it before, she's screamed her guts out immediately and never calmed down (in the few minutes I waited impatiently). And even the times she's fallen asleep nursing at that time, she's always woken up an hour later ready to play again! But Sunday night, she cried for maybe 2 seconds til I closed her door, and then she was quiet and fell asleep all on her own, and stayed asleep! Up until that night, I'd been nursing her to sleep for every nap and bedtime! She only woke up a few short times that night, and went right back to sleep! Since then, she has been doing the same thing for naps and bedtime! Sometimes she cries for a couple minutes, but if I go back in there, she lays right back down. If she's having trouble falling asleep, all it takes is a couple minutes of resting my hand on her back, and she's OUT! She already knows, as soon as we walk into her dimly lit room, that it's time to sleep. Her grip around my neck gets tighter, and we cuddle and hug and kiss for a few minutes. Then she lays right down! It's almost as if she flipped a switch somewhere and now she's a little miracle sleeper! The first time it happened, I didn't really believe it. But after a whole week, I think it's safe to be excited!

Here's how I fixed her. Lol. First, the only thing I did was start waking her up at 8 or 8:30 every morning. I didn't do anything else different - she still nursed to sleep for nap and bedtime, she was still taking naps randomly throughout the day, and she was still up til 11 or midnight. Then, everyday I started purposefully nursing her so she'd take a nap around 11 and then again 3 hours after she woke up from that nap. She was still staying up til 11 or midnight. Then Sunday night I just got the idea to try to put her down awake, and that was it! Now, whenever she seems tired (around 11 and around 4) I put her down for a nap. And she's been ready for bed earlier and earlier every night. The first few times she started seeming sleepy around 9, then 8:45 - last night I was out, and Dan put her down just before 8 and she fell right asleep! She's never cried herself to sleep! She is still nursing a lot, and she still wakes up a little in the middle of the night. But we're all much happier now! Just in time for her 1st birthday on Wednesday! 1 year ago I was sitting around like an enormous blob, 2 days past my due date, with 5 days left!

All about me

Things I want to do in my spare time (since I don't have any work to do til next week):

* sew jean skirt (check)
* sew curtains for kitchen and tiny stair window?
* sew ruffle cardigan
* paint Marissa's polka-dots on her walls
* paint canvases
* sew corn hole bags for Dan (check)
* sew ruffle shirt?
* sew skinny jeans (check)
* sew ruffle pillow
* sew Marissa's Cubbie patches on (check)
* sew Arianna's felt Mr. Potato Head pieces for her birthday
* write Xanga post about what I want to do and what I'm interested in lately, but don't have time to do, so I just read about it instead (check)

Well, Dan and Marissa are at Cubbies right now, and Arianna is taking her 2nd nap of the day. So I have some quiet "me" time, and no work to do! Well, I mean no *paid* work to do - I should probably be doing dishes, but I already did them once today, so I don't feel too guilty. Hehe.

Lately I've been feeling like I never get to do what *I* want. I enjoy plenty of the things that I've been doing, but it's just not usually what I'd choose to do. But since it's a slow time of the month for work, I've had some spare time lately, and it's been so nice! It's still not quite the same though, since the girls still need a lot of attention, and I still am kinda lazy But I've really been getting into sewing, as you can see by my reminder list at the top of this post. I have a crappy tiny sewing machine, but it works pretty well, and it has served it's purpose: I really just wanted to know if I *could* sew and if I enjoyed it. I can, and I do, and I would LOVE to have a nice big normal sewing machine now. There's only one stitch on mine, and it can't even go backwards, do buttons, or pretty much anything else - just sew one straight line. But nice sewing machines are so expensive! Today on craigslist I spotted a free one nearby, so I had a friend pick it up. I won't get it til Saturday, but I so hope it works! The person didn't know if it worked or not, and didn't know much else about it except that it's a Kenmore. But I've got my hopes up!

I was supposed to host Bunco for ladies from church yesterday, but with all the snow we've been getting, I figured it would be best to reschedule it for next Tuesday. But I had already got the prizes and planned the menu, so I don't have much to prepare for it for next Tuesday. I didn't have a lot of money to work with for the prizes (since there weren't many people there last month when we collect money for the following month), but I hit Target clearance, JoAnn's $1 spot, and the dollar store, and I think I got an awesome gift pack for each of the three winners (most wins, most big buncos, and travel). It was kinda fun to pick everything out! And I realized again how much I love our dollar store (I think it's a Dollar Tree). There's a lot of junk there, but amidst all the junk there are some real finds! They have cute mirrors, picture frames, vases, "sticks" to put in vases, odor-control bags for dirty diapers...I even got Marissa a brush there and it works just as well as a Wal*Mart brush. Lol. I got myself a little black box that says "Love" on it, and a oval mirror in a fancy frame - and they both match my downstairs decor perfectly! Last week I bought a chalkboard at Hobby Lobby that has a fancy black frame around it, and put it up over my new side table (Malm occasional table from IKEA) in the dining room. Now instead of a plastic kiddie kitchen in that nook, I have a beautiful table with a drawer to hide junk, a nifty chalkboard calendar above it, and my three musical plaques above that! I wish I had endless amounts of money to decorate our home with, but sometimes (and only *sometimes*) it's fun to use what I have and decorate slowly. If it wasn't for our HIDEOUS couch and recliner, I would call our living room "done." I would love a modern black dining table set sometime in the future, but I'm kinda scared what kids would do to something like that - so I'm ok with sticking with what we have for now.

Speaking of that, I found this blog not too long ago that gives the plans for building tons of expensive furniture for much cheaper: http://knockoffwood.blogspot.com/ and Dan just recently bought a table saw. When I showed him the website, he got super excited, and we'll probably start building our own furniture now. It's fun to have him get excited about "house" stuff too. We'll probably start with an "island" to put in the nook in our dining room (and I'll move the Malm table upstairs to use as a vanity in our bedroom), and then if that goes well we'll probably do a dining table next. I'm not really sure if we have the skills (or the time) to do it, but it will be fun to try!

Speaking of having the time, I realized that instead of decorating or sewing, it's easier for me to *read about* decorating and sewing, since I can basically do that while the girls are awake and playing. I'm subscribed to so many decorating and crafting blogs, it's ridiculous - and I've started to unsubscribe to some because I just can't keep up with them all! But I love getting inspiration from them, and I have a list (and bookmarks in Firefox) a mile long of things I want to try when I have the time or the money. As a SAHM it's really hard to have time and money to devote to hobbies. But at least I get to live vicariously through all these bloggers that I read about. I just keep telling myself "someday..."

As I sit here, I'm looking at the toys on the floor. Marissa and Arianna were playing some "shopping" game before dinner, and Marissa put alllllllllllllllllllllllll the small toys in a bag and then dumped them all out on the opposite side of the room. It was so cute watching them play together, and hearing Marissa say "come here Arianna, do this Arianna" etc. that I couldn't bear to tell her to stop. I feel like my house usually looks pretty decent most of the time - except dishes every once in a while - and of course except for all the toys! Arianna will watch me start picking up toys, and then she darts over to the toybox, checks to make sure I'm watching, and starts flinging them out of the toybox as fast as she can. It's stinking hilarious, but so frustrating! We had a couple from church over a few days ago, and Arianna was napping when they got here so it actually stayed clean for more than 5 seconds. Lol.

Well, it felt good to get that all out. I kinda just typed and typed and didn't really read through it like I usually do when I write. But I feel better now. Maybe I'll start working on a "M & A" post now...

Prettying up my 1/2 bath

So we moved in over 2 years ago, and I had done absolutely NOTHING to the 1/2 bath on our main level. It was boring, beige, builder-basic and I HATED it! I didn't feel like I should paint the walls anything different, even though the rest of our main level is a springy green, so I decided to just add some fun accents. We are in a money crunch, so I couldn't go out and buy a bunch of stuff, but I LOVE it so far! There's still more to do, but here is what I've done already (it's nearly impossible to take a decent picture in this tiny room!):

I painted a faux frame around the boring mirror. We got a free quart of black paint from Glidden over the summer, and I finally put it to good use! I measured so each point and curve was the same distance as the others, but did it all free-hand. I am SUCH a perfectionist that it took a few days of looking at it to get it just right (and even now, I have to ignore a few spots), but I think it's so fun to look into!

(Again, excuse the poor lighting) I had a little money from Christmas gifts, so I got a yard of fabric from Jo-Ann's. It's black and white damask, and it was actually twice as long (wide?) as normal fabric at 108" so it was perfect, and I still have a bunch left! I didn't want a traditional sink skirt that's gathered and poofy, so I just hemmed the edges, added a simple pleat in the front, and velcro-ed it to the sink! I love that it hides the nasty stuff I like to keep handy: plunger (don't you hate it when you have to go searching for one at someone else's house?!), toilet brush, and toilet cleaner.

10 months old and Christmas

Well, I wrote a post last week, but forgot to post it! So here it is:
We're back from Georgia! We drove 10 hours to spend 3 days with Dan's extended family for Christmas, then drove 9 hours overnight (which is why it was shorter) to get back home at 5am Sunday. Phew! We had a wonderful time visiting, and the girls did GREAT with all the new people they didn't know/remember. Marissa played with Emily (who was our flowergirl) and Stephanie, talked everyone's ears off, and slept great for naps/bedtime. Arianna was surprisingly willing to let most anyone hold her, and she walked around and got into everything, especially their Christmas tree! Arianna did NOT sleep well at all (big surprise), especially since we all slept together in the same room. She ended up sleeping with me in our bed most of the time, which is fine for her, and fine for a little while, but when I can't move a muscle for 4+ hours, I HURT! We survived it though, and it was worth it. We hadn't seen most of these relatives since 2 years ago when Marissa was 1.5. The girls got some wonderful Christmas presents, and I got a gift card to IKEA that I can't wait to spend!

Let me back up a little: When my parents came out at the beginning of December, they brought presents with them, so before we left for Georgia, we had Christmas with just us four. Marissa was funny - when she opened up a present with clothes in it, she exclaimed "CUTE!" The girls got some wonderful presents from my parents as well, and so did Dan and I. We are so lucky to have two sets of parents (and grandparents) that dote on all of us!

Arianna was 10 months old on Christmas Eve. It's hard to believe. She wears 9 month or 12 month clothes, except for a few pants that are 12-18 months, since she's 2 inches taller than Marissa was at this age. She's walking like a 1.5 year old. Lol. She can stand up without pulling up on anything. She speed-walks away when she knows she's in trouble (like when we caught her playing with the Christmas tree in Georgia). She's still not saying much, but when she wants to, she never stops babbling! She's been signing "more" for a while, and I think she's getting "all done" too. She's finally starting to eat better, but is still picky. But at least she eats a lot of what she likes! I managed to bring frozen homemade baby food to GA, and I was surprised at how easy it was. I pre-mixed the fruit/veggies I had pureed, and so far she still has not had a drop of store-bought baby food. It's a dumb thing to be proud of, but I am. Lol. Not a drop of formula either. She's still nursing quite often (which I realized when we were in GA, since she didn't nurse nearly as much down there), but that's still fine with me. On the car ride home, she didn't nurse for 6+ hours, so now that I know she can survive (lol), I might start limiting her at night. She was still nursing TONS at night, simply because that was the easiest way to get her back to sleep during the 5+ times she woke up at night. But last night and the night before she actually only woke up once...so I have a tiny bit of hope! I actually got 5 hours straight of sleep - BLISS!
[edited to add: she went back downhill for a while, but the last two nights have been wonderful!]

She did the cutest thing in the car on the drive home. She woke up because Marissa was being too loud, so I climbed into the back seat, and wedged myself between the two car seats (not easy!). I put my hand on her cheek, so my arm was across her stomach. And she just grabbed my arm with her hand and held me there! Anytime she started to drift to sleep, she lost her grip so I took my arm out. But the second she realized it was gone, she woke up and cried. I was starting to worry she was in deep in a "Mommy only" stage, but since we've been home, she's totally been a Daddy's girl. It's so sweet how she lights up at him, and follows him around. Her laughter is so contagious and silly. She loves to giggle, and we all love to make her giggle, especially Marissa. It's so hard to believe that in 2 months we'll have a party for her!

We had a bunch of friends over for New Year's and it was tons of fun! My sister is coming for a visit soon too, and we're going to IKEA so I can spend my gift card! Then Dan's parents are coming for a weekend - I have a lot to do to get ready!

Here is a picture of our family on Christmas Day in Georgia:

All over the place

I keep forgetting to talk about Arianna's eating issues. She's still nursing a lot. Which is fine with me. But she doesn't seem to really like eating solids! Well, I guess that's not true: she LOVES peaches and pears! I've been making all her food - just putting stuff in the blender and freezing it in ice cube trays. It's so easy, I don't know why I never managed to do it for Marissa. So far she's had peas, green beans, carrots, peaches, pears, applesauce, prune juice/oatmeal, and potatoes. But the only way she'll eat peas, green beans, and potatoes is if I mix it with peaches, pears, or applesauce! And the ratio has to be just right, or she'll refuse it. I've been patient, because I know it takes babies like 10 tries before they start liking something. But we're way beyond those 10 tries! I've been slowly weaning her off the high ratio of fruit/veggie, and sometimes she does better. But it's so frustrating! And I feel so sneaky. Lol. She won't eat potatoes no matter what (maybe because even when they're blended, they're still slightly lumpy?). I'm trying not to get worried, because she is still nursing a lot (and I plan to continue for a while), and she'll eat TONS of peaches or pears if given the chance. She also loves Cheerios, and is starting to sign "more" when she wants more! I've let her try cooked corn kernels, and she eats those sometimes. She also has tried freeze dried apple bites, bits of broccoli, and (don't tell anyone!) bits of American cheese. It's so weird to think that she's starting to get the age where she can eat bits of table food, but she's barely been eating baby mush for a while!

The other day, Marissa and Arianna were walking around the room holding hands, and Arianna started to fall. Marissa said "Don't be afraid, Marissa will always be here for you."

Marissa has really started singing a lot lately. You remember the "Ikea-us" song? Haha...well here's another good one: "I'm in the Lord's arm-you, I'm in the Lord's arm-you" instead of "I'm in the Lord's army." It took me a minute to figure out why she was singing it that way: army sounds like arm-me, so she was singing arm-you! Lol

Arianna's been sleeping a little better lately. She still wakes up a few times, but has been going back to sleep easier, and the last few days she's even been asleep at 10:30pm instead of midnight! She's also started taking better naps (2.5 hours instead of 30 minutes! And today she took a 2.5 hour one this morning, and is back in her crib again!) But she's been waking up earlier for the day, which is to be expected. I brought her to bed with me the other morning at 8:15 when she woke up and tried to get her to nurse/sleep more. She wouldn't, but if I pretended to be asleep she just sat by me and periodically kissed my face and cuddled with me trying to wake me up for a long time. I just laid there and she did that on and off. It was so precious! I love that she's learning hugs and kisses - although her kisses are so slobbery! And she even imitates us saying "awww" when she hugs us.

We went shopping as a family on Saturday. It was so funny. Dan is a horrible shopper! Lol. We went to a few stores, so we had to get the girls in and out of the car a lot. I found the deal of the year at Kohl's. My mom gave me some money to get clothes for Christmas, and I decided I wanted to look for a nice winter coat. I have two of them, but both of them used to be my sister's, so the sleeves were waaaaaaay too short, and one of them wasn't even warm. So I decided it was time! I hadn't had a new winter coat since college - I bought a black one, and Dan bought me the same one in cream. Lol. They were having a huge sale! This coat was regularly $200, and marked down to $78. Then I also bought a pair of jeans, so that took the total over $100. I had a 20% off $100 purchase, and then got $10 Kohl's Cash back! I can't really do the math, but I got an awesome deal on this warm wool coat:
Look how long those sleeves are! My mom and I are both cursed with oddly long arms, so this is a rare find, and it's so much fun to wear!

I touched up the paint in our 1/2 bath on Sunday. When we had the guys replace our flooring (last summer?) they really banged up the walls and trim. So now it looks much better! I'm planning some fun stuff for that room, since it's the bathroom guests use, and it's right by our front door. If only I had the time to devote to it!

This is kinda a crazy week. Tonight I had BUNCO with ladies from church. Tomorrow I have to drop off work that I got yesterday (and finished up FAST today so I don't have to stay up late after BUNCO), and then Marissa's friend Ingrid is coming over tomorrow night while her parents go out for a bit. Thursday Marissa has a kid's Christmas party at church. Saturday we're having some friends over for lunch. And next week we're going away for Christmas for a few days, so I have tons of laundry and packing to do! I'm trying to get our Christmas cards mailed out soon, and I have a handmade gift for Marissa that might not get done til after Christmas. Ahhh, so much going on!

I guess that's all, so I'm going to get in bed before Arianna wakes up!

Visit from Grandma and Grandpa

My parents just left this morning after a wonderful long weekend visit. We didn't see them for Thanksgiving since we stayed here and had our own little holiday, and we'll be visiting with Dan's parents and extended family for Christmas, so we had a lot to pack into one weekend! My mom and I went Christmas shopping (for clothes she's giving me) on Saturday, kid-free! It was wonderful, even though for the first time in my entire life we left Kohl's without a single purchase! Lol.

Saturday evening we got out all our Christmas stuff, and then had a mini-Christmas with gifts my Grandma sent out. We ended up putting our fake 3-4ft tree up on top of a card table. There's no way I wanted to fight with Arianna to stay away from something that exciting! It was lots of fun, and the girls had a blast. Marissa remembers her Grandma and Grandpa, obviously, but Arianna didn't have a clue! She was so weird - one second she'd be grinning her face off at Grandpa, and the next second she burst into terrified screams. Lol. Arianna was kinda a grump the whole weekend. I think this LACK OF SLEEP is starting to get to her too!

One cute thing Arianna started doing like crazy is clapping for herself while she walks around the room! She also decided to climb up onto the couch when no one was paying attention to her! Someone saw her as she was reaching for all the stuff on the shelf above the couch, and got to her in time. But as they put her back down on the floor, she was clapping for herself! Too funny! She also is finally starting to imitate the sounds we make. She's been too busy WALKING to talk (not to mention, Marissa doesn't really let her get a word in anyways!), but this weekend she was imitating us saying "Uh-oh" and it was so cute. She also figured out how to open the ottomans in our living room. One of them we use as a toybox and the other holds blankets to use on the couch. This could be interesting!

We all went to church together Sunday, and then almost everyone took a nap Sunday afternoon. I did, and it felt wonderful! Then we went to Sam's and out to dinner together. It was so much fun to spend all that time together, and Marissa was great entertainment. Lol. Arianna was cute and fun enough, but she really was just not herself this weekend. She's been waking up every 1/2 hour, for hours on end, in the middle of the night, and she does NOT take good naps at all to make up for it. I'm at my wit's end, but I'm still not willing to let her cry it out. I just keep thinking it's got to get better at some point, right?! This weekend, she slept in the pack-n-play in our master walk-in closet, since my parents slept on the guest bed that's in her room. That may have had something to do with the 1/2 hour thing, but she doesn't really sleep much better in her own room! I think I'm going to break down and at least put blankets in her bed. "They" say to wait until kids are 1, but I know many people don't actually wait that long. And I think maybe she's just cold, or uncomfortable. She sleeps great in bed with me, and on anyone's lap, so maybe she just wants to be more cuddly?

Today, Marissa helped me decorate the tiniest Christmas tree ever. I used to have it in my bedroom as a kid, and my brother and sister and I even made "ornaments" to put on it! So now it's on our entryway table, and Marissa thinks it's pretty cute.

I didn't do any work this weekend, and they don't have any work for me until Friday, so I'm enjoying a short break from it. Not like it's hard, it's just nice to have time to do other things I want to do instead of having it hang over my head 'til it's done.

Well, we've got a lot going on between now and Christmas, but I hope I can at least try to keep up!

M & A

Marissa has been especially hysterical lately:

• Marissa was telling us about how K. bumped his lip at church and it was bleeding and he was crying. Then she said, "It was just, like, so sad!" (with just the right inflection in her voice) and I asked, "Did you feel bad for him?" and she said, "No!"

• ME: I love Ikea.
  MARISSA: Wanna hear the Ikea song?
  ME: What's the Ikea song?
  MARISSA: Ikea-us was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he...

• Marissa typed her very first word on a computer. She found each letter of her name and typed them all in! She was so proud. Now she keeps begging for a turn on the laptop...
  

• Somehow (and I have NO idea how) Marissa learned how to give "the look" to people. Lol. One night at dinner, she said "Daddy, watch this!" and she raised her eyebrows, opened her eyes up wide, and gave him "the look" and we just about died laughing. I give her "the look" when I'm waiting for a "thank you" or "please" or a better tone of voice. But it's much better when she gives it!
  

Arianna turned 9 months old today last Tuesday (I started writing this Tuesday, and I'm just getting around to finishing it the following Monday)!

• It's so weird to think of how much she's grown and changed in these 9 months, compared to the 9 months she grew inside of me. She's already hit every physical milestone, so pretty much the only milestone left is talking. That can wait for a while, as far as I'm concerned! Marissa talks enough for both of them these days.

• At her 9-month check-up, Arianna weighed 16 lbs 12 oz (10th percentile) and was 29 inches long (90th percentile)! Marissa weighed 16-9 and was only 27 inches long - that 2-inch height difference is throwing off all the sizing in the hand-me-down clothes! Arianna screamed her head off the entire time we were at the doctor's office. Even when nothing was being done to her! The second I tried to put her on the table to take her clothes off (before anyone even came in our room!) she was clinging to my neck and climbing up me. It was pitiful. The doctor was surprised to hear that she's walking already - she said she didn't even have it on her developmental checklist so she had to write it in! (Anybody know offhand if there's a height/length limit for infant car seat carriers? I need to look it up because for some reason I remember there being one, but I'm not sure...)
  

• Arianna is literally walking across the entire living room these days. She's getting fast too! Yesterday she walked from the middle of the living room all the way down the entryway, just grinning at me. It's probably about 10 feet maybe.
  

• We are having major sleep issues these days! She is chronically overtired (so am I) and I'm really struggling to find a way to fix us! She still doesn't fall asleep until 11:30 or later at night. So obviously I have to stay up with her until she does. Sometimes she falls asleep nursing, but not always, so I know that's not a huge issue. She's also been waking up a lot at night recently. She still (again) has a cold and sometimes her stuffy nose and coughing wake her up. But she also has trouble going back to sleep sometimes. That's the most frustrating thing of all. I don't care how many times she wakes up in the night (ok, that's a lie...) if she goes right back to sleep. But sometimes she'll be up for an hour - falling asleep, only to wake up as I put her back down, or wake up seconds after I get all warm in my bed again. She also has trouble taking good naps. I don't care when she naps, but she usually sleeps around 11 or 2, then again right after dinner. But she has a really hard time sleeping for longer than 45 minutes. She does have some good days (she took a 2 hour nap just the other day), but I can't figure out why some days are like that and some are horrible. I've tried turning her evening nap into bedtime, but all that did was make her wake up EVERY. SINGLE. HOUR. ALL. NIGHT. LONG. and that's just not worth it for either of us! She isn't miserable or grumpy, so it's not really affecting her mood that much, but it's affecting mine! She doesn't have a set time she wakes up in the morning, but Marissa does, so I don't get nearly enough sleep these days, and it's killing me. I never feel rested! I know I signed up for this as a mom, but the reality of it stinks! As I type this, she's asleep cuddled up on my chest. I had a million things to do this afternoon since I have editing work due Wednesday, and my parents are coming this weekend. But she needs her sleep, and I certainly don't mind a cuddly sleep baby! She won't be this way forever...
  

• She knows how to make it up to me though. She learned how to give kisses and cuddles, and it's so precious! If we ask for "kisses" she lunges forward, puts her mouth on our mouth, and licks away! It's so gross, but so cute because she loves doing it. And if we say "awwww" a certain way, she'll cuddle us for a nice long hug. She is the happiest girl and just amazes me every second of her life.

• The girls are playing so well together lately. Marissa "helps" Arianna walk, gives her hugs, shares her toys, chases her around the kitchen, pulls her around the kitchen (pulling a stool Arianna is holding onto, walking behind it) and Arianna gives Marissa kisses too. It's so fun to watch. Marissa very rarely even plays with her baby dolls now, because she has a real life baby to play with! (Although she's still asking for a brother!)

My stupid laptop basically died the other day, so Dan installed a new operating system (Ubuntu) on it. It's weird to get used to, but now things are working more smoothly. So that's why I haven't been able to be on here as often. I already have more pictures to upload from the camera, but I can't do that with a sleeping baby on my lap, so they will have to wait!


Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, just the four of us. It was the first time we've had a "vacation" at home without any visitors, and it was so relaxing. Marissa was excited to watch Sesame Street with Daddy since he's always at work when she watches it. Dan and I made a great team making the Thanksgiving meal. He did the turkey, stuffing, and part of the apple crostada, and I did the mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and the dough for the crust of the crostada. Everything was so yummy, and we will be eating turkey for the next month! 11lbs is the smallest we could find! Arianna had a few extraordinarily horrible nights, but I caught up with a 2.5 hour nap Sunday afternoon. It was a little weird to not be with any extended family, but still fun. My parents are coming for a visit this weekend, and we'll see Dan's parents for Christmas in Georgia (unpleasant memory: last time we went to Georgia for Christmas I had just had my 2nd miscarriage).

I don't want to end this long post with that last sentence, but I think I've run out of things to say! Arianna is still asleep on my lap, and I just hate to move her. Guess I'll look around on the computer for something else to occupy my time!

Arianna walking 11/8/09 at OneTrueMedia.com

Arianna is 8 months, 1 week, and 5 days old. Sunday afternoon she started walking!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Busy!

Well, it's not quite 11pm, Monday night. Arianna is asleep (for now) MUCH earlier than normal, so I thought I'd try to write a quick post. Dan is asleep too, so I'm sitting in the hallway on the floor, using the laptop - the keys are loud, and the mouse-click button squeaks. Lol. Strangely enough, Marissa is still wide awake! She took an extra long nap today for some reason (slept til 4:30!), so I'm not too concerned. But we actually have to get up and go somewhere tomorrow morning, so hopefully she falls asleep soon! I'm still amazed that she's completely dry in her underwear every night now. We used to wake her up to go potty before we went to sleep, but I haven't done that in a while, and she's still been fine! It seems so weird to me that she's old enough to be so responsible!

I got up this morning and got ready to go in to work and drop off the work I did over the weekend. While I was getting ready, I got a call from Cheryl at work, asking me if I could come in tomorrow (Tuesday) instead of today. She said they'd be getting a ton more work today, and I could take some home to do Tuesday night, bring it back and get more Wednesday, and then bring that back on Friday to get my usual weekend work. I don't usually do any during the week, but another girl is going to be gone, and it's at the end of one of their deadlines. Hopefully it won't be too much (I can still tell them how much I want).

Before I found out that I was going to be doing work during the week, we had already planned two play dates. Tomorrow we're going over to my friend Susan's house so we can chat and Marissa can play with her 3 year old. They get along so well, and after they left last time, Marissa cried! Anyways, we'll spend the morning there, and then stop by my work to quickly log in/out all my papers. Then Thursday we're going over to Kate's house (married to Aaron who used to work with Dan). She has a 4 year old boy name Trevor, and an 18-month old girl named Shaelyn (and I'm sure I'm spelling that wrong). Trevor is crazy, but I think it's mostly BOY. Lol. He and Marissa have a blast too, but we haven't even seen them since Arianna was tiny and stayed on a blanket all day! (Did she really used to stay in one place??!)

Wednesday we have to go in to my work to log in/out, and then it's Cubbies night at church for Marissa. And today I got a call from a friend from church who just had a baby recently. Friday we are going to watch her 3 year old boy named Cole while she takes the baby to an appointment, and then I'll have to go in to work sometime that afternoon. He's a sweet boy, but also crazy! He and Marissa had a fun time playing the other night when we all got together for pizza before Cubbies, so I think we're going to try to get together more often.

Phew! That wore me out just typing up our week! Today as I realized all the stuff we'd be doing all week, I started to get overwhelmed. So I actually did work while the girls napped today. Usually I reserve that time for ME time. But today I dusted like crazy (NOT my favorite chore), cleaned the downstairs windows, and picked up some of the junk we tend to leave on our entryway table. Then tonight, Dan took the girls grocery shopping (his task, since he's the Coupon King), and I cooked up some baby food for Arianna. I just used canned veggies and fruit, and mashed them to mush in the food processor. It was a whole lot easier than I was expecting, and I realized that it would be helpful if I had more ice cube trays! I got peas, green beans, potatoes, and peaches done. That should last us a while, since I'm still introducing her to things gradually. She's really only had rice cereal, oatmeal, carrots, applesauce, and apple/prune juice mixed into her cereal. I just mashed the carrots with a fork on a plate and froze a ton in the ice cube trays a while back. But I tried to mash peas on a plate and it did NOT work. Lol. So now we have tons of new stuff for her to try! It was actually kinda fun, and I'm looking forward to seeing how she reacts to each new food.

Arianna's been letting go of furniture these days and standing completely unassisted for LONG periods of time. It's so funny to see her standing all by herself, using both hands to play with something! Marissa "cruised" for over 4 straight months, so it's possible Arianna will also take this last "step" slowly. But there are times when it looks like she's about to take off already, and I'm not ready! She's also still had this annoying runny nose and cough for quite a while now. The nose thing comes and goes - some days she doesn't have any problems, and other days I can't keep the snot from running down her face! The cough is pretty consistent though - consistently wakes/keeps her up at night - and it's REALLY getting on my nerves! She's totally happy and doesn't care at all, but I do! I don't particularly want to go in to the doctor's office and expose the girls to all those germs there, but I don't want this cough to keep going either. I'm already worried about going in there for her 9-month check-up at the end of November...speaking of...she's 8 months old! We got the email saying what babies this age are normally doing developmentally, and Dan and I just had to laugh: "As your baby's muscles are becoming stronger, she's apt to lunge forward onto all fours from a sitting position. She may go into a "precrawl" exercise, rocking back and forth on hands and knees with her trunk parallel to the floor. Most babies begin to crawl between 7 and 10 months." She's been crawling since 5 months! Our living room constantly looks like a toy bomb went off in it, and it's mostly from Arianna pulling EVERY SINGLE TOY out of her ottoman/toy box (which she has now fallen into twice - so funny! I got a picture the 2nd time, it's coming, don't worry!). She is a joy, but she is sure a handful!

Well, I really should take advantage of Arianna's early night and go to bed before she wakes up again (she is NOT sleeping well these days, so therefore neither am I!). Although, I'm a little hesitant to go to bed with Marissa still wide awake (it's now 11:13)...

My chair makeover

My $3 garage sale chair (I tested the spray paint at the top. The whole chair was all tan/speckly.)
After I removed the seat, and began taking staples out
Beginning to re-upholster the seat. I used an old sweatshirt of my dad's (from the 70's? It had batting in it - odd) to reinforce the cushion and make it look smoother. (It's sitting on 1 out of 2 of my FREE wingback chairs - with an old sheet over it - that I will also eventually reupholster when I have the money for 14+ yards of gorgeous fabric!)
The final seat. This was the skirt I wore to my college graduation. I CLEARLY do not fit in it anymore. Lol. But I love the colors. I want to eventually buy some cool orange fabric, but for now, this will do (and it was free!)(I LOVE using a staple gun. So much POWER! Lol.)
Cedarville University, May 2005
Close-ups of the original finishStripping and sanding: I used Dan's spray stripper (he used it for the bicycle he re-painted) and scrubbed it with steel wool. There was yellow paint under the spotted finish, then white primer under that. I didn't have the time, energy, or amount of spray stripper to take it completely down to the bare wood on the whole thing, so I made it my goal to at least get most of the yellow off.
Primed with left-over tinted primer from painting the basement dark maroon.
After 2-3 coats of glossy black spray paint. I had some left in a can of Krylon, but it ran out before it was covered, so I had to buy another can. We had a gift card to Home Depot, so it ended up being Rustoleum brand instead.
Screwed the seat back in (When I screwed it into the old holes, it wasn't centered! So I re-screwed my own holes to center it.)
Trying it out in the mudroom, it's original intended location. I couldn't decide if I wanted it on the left wall, the right wall, or in the corner. But I ended up not liking it there at all, especially because it would slide every time someone sat in it, and mark up the wall behind it.

Final location: right inside the front door. I love it here because Dan walks in from work, and doesn't have to walk all over the carpet to remove his shoes in his recliner!

One more time...
BEFORE: ugly, faded seat, speckly finish

AFTER: modern, bold, fun print